Dedham runner among Patriots' team

Wednesday

Apr 5, 2017 at 10:15 AMApr 5, 2017 at 10:15 AM

By Victoria Grovesdedham@wickedlocal.com

When Dedham resident Campbell Probert started working for the Kraft Group last July, she had no idea she’d be one of the few to run on behalf of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation’s Boston Marathon team this month.

Thirty runners, including seven Kraft Group employees, are running the 121st Boston Marathon on April 17. For Probert, a lifelong athlete and recent college graduate, this will be her first marathon. She works as assistant to the vice president of the Kraft Group and its corporate counsel.

"I interned with the Red Sox last summer as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and from then on, I knew I wanted to be involved in sports as a career," said Probert, who is originally from Newburyport. "I feel fortunate to have ended up here with the Patriots."

Moere than 500 runners applied to be part of this year’s Patriots Boston Marathon team, and explain why they’re motivated to run on behalf of the organization. The 30 chosen are then required to fundraise at least $5,000 to support the Myra Kraft Community MVP Awards Program. It places a spotlight on volunteers who give their time to help others and exemplify leadership, dedication and a commitment to improving their communities through volunteerism.

Probert has already reached her fundraising goal, but continues to work to raise more as race day approaches.

"I’ll do a final push right up until the marathon," she said. "I’m lucky enough to have a lot of family and friends who are really generous and I really feel honored to be a part of this team."

Probert explained in her application that she played lacrosse at Dartmouth and after graduation was looking for another active group to get involved with. Now that she’s on the Patriot’s marathon team, she has been looking forward to long training runs on the weekends and hill conditioning on Tuesdays.

"It’s such a great support system of first time marathoners and veterans who can give us training and fundraising tips," said Probert. "As a team we have a goal of raising $200,000 and we know that is going to really make an impact."

Last year’s funds raised went toward grants that supported programming in every New England state and helped those in areas that included education, healthcare, homelessness, mentoring and military appreciation. This year, the group hopes to be just as far reaching.

"This year’s team is a very dedicated and passionate group of runners, many of whom are running their first marathon," said Josh Kraft, President of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, in a press release. "We are deeply committed to supporting the New England community."

Probert also hopes that while most local residents know about the Patriots’ success on the football field, with the marathon team’s performance and fundraising, they’ll also see that the Kraft Group is doing great work on the sidelines as well.

"I love the community feel of the organization and they’ve had such success on the field," she said. "But there’s so much work that goes on behind the scenes too … I’m so happy to be able to contribute in a small way to such an amazing organization."

Fans can continue to make donations through race day in support of the team’s cause by visiting http://bit.ly/2otHlRV.

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